UFO Investigator & ISU Alumnus Dead

From: Terry Groff <terry.nul>
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 02:15:03 -0600
Fwd Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2004 11:18:31 -0500
Subject: UFO Investigator & ISU Alumnus Dead
Source: Iowa State Daily
http://www.iowastatedaily.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/03/24/4061058409b0b?in_archive=1
March 24, 2004
UFO investigator, ISU alumnus dead
By Scott Rank
Daily Staff Writer
An ISU alumnus who worked on the country's largest, most
systematic investigation of UFOs died Thursday after a struggle
with cancer. He was 70.
Roy Craig, who received his doctorate in physical chemistry from
Iowa State in 1952, was chief field investigator for The
Colorado Project, the official government search for verifiable
evidence for the existence of UFOs. He was highly skeptical of
UFOs, but was fascinated by the false reports of their
existence.
"He felt the entire aspect of UFOs were the most important
social phenomena of the last half of the 20th century," said Hal
Mansfield, a friend of Craig. "They opened up the minds of
people to life on other planets and changed their perspective of
Earth as the center of the universe."
Craig's professional career spanned many different branches of
science, including nuclear weapons research, but he gained his
professional notoriety as the chief field investigator for The
Colorado Project, according to an obituary written by Mansfield.
"He gained notoriety because he was on the wrong side of the
fence with those who ardently believed in the existence of
UFOs," Mansfield said. "Dr. Craig's conclusions about UFOs
didn't come down on the believers' side of the issue."
At the end of this project, Craig and the other investigators
released the Condor Report, one of the most important documents
in UFO history, according to the obituary. The report stated
scientists had nothing to gain from taking UFOs seriously and
that the entire subject was largely useless to science.
The report was a response to the thousands of UFO sightings
received by the Air Force during the 1950s and 1960s, according
to Craig's book, "UFOs: An Insider's View of the Official Quest
for Evidence." Public interest in UFOs surged by sensationalized
press attention, which stated the government kept UFOs secret
under the guises of weather balloons and swamp gas.
As part of The Colorado Project, Craig personally investigated
numerous UFO incidents, one involving a bow hunter from
California who claimed he narrowly escaped a killer robot from
space, armed with nothing but his bow and arrows, Craig wrote in
his book.
Craig confirmed most of these "sightings" were merely hoaxes.
"The blind desire to believe can and does lead a person into
absolute absurdities," Craig wrote. "These cases illustrate the
responses of human minds which are governed by the desire to
believe in the reality of flying saucers."
While the report that Craig co-authored debunked mysteries about
outer space, he wrote that UFOs did get people to think about
the possibility of extraterrestrial life.
He also wasn't a complete UFO skeptic.
In the last chapter of his book, Craig included revolutionary
theories that defended the possibility of interstellar travel.
He wrote a few years of scientific progress would prove aliens
traveling to earth was possible -- at least theoretically.
"Roy said most people's disbelief of UFOs existence came from
our limited knowledge of physics and cosmology," Mansfield said.
During his career, he taught physics at the University of
Colorado and helped set up the Four Corners Research Institute,
which offered environmental and other scientific investigations.
He spent his retirement years on a 160-acre ranch in Ignacio,
Colorado, where he took care of a herd of 60 llamas.